Save the Mekong Campaign
The Mekong River is under threat. The governments of Cambodia, Laos and Thailand are planning eleven big hydropower dams on the Mekong River's mainstream. If built, the dams would block major fish migrations and disrupt this vitally important river, placing at risk millions of people who depend upon the Mekong for their food security and income.
The Mekong River supports one of the world's most productive inland fisheries, which feeds over sixty million people. Official estimates put its value at more than US$3 billion annually. Yet, even this staggering figure understates the true value, as fisheries are also central to peoples' nutrition and food security. Experience around the world points to the fact there is no way of mitigating the impact of such large dams on fisheries.
Manna Gum is a member of the Save the Mekong Coalition, which brings together non-government organizations, local people, academics, journalists, artists and ordinary people from within the Mekong countries and internationally.
Find out more: www.savethemekong.org
Oxfam Australia
The struggle of the people of Sambor
Sambor is a district of Kratie, Cambodia where people have lived for generations off the abundant natural resources of the Mekong – rice from the land, fish from the river, and a wealth of goods and materials from the forest. Sambor means ‘plenty’.
In 2006 the Cambodian Government signed an agreement with the China Southern Power Grid Company to explore the feasibility of a massive hydropower dam on the Mekong River in Sambor. The proposed dam would export electricity to Vietnam or Thailand.
If built, the Sambor Hydropower Dam will force the relocation of 19,000–20,000 people nearly all of whom are small-scale farmers and fishers.
Preserving Plenty is a full colour publication detailing the lives of people across three Sambor villages written by Jonathon Cornford and Chhuon La and photographed by News Limited photographer Glenn Daniels.
Download Preserving Plenty